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Port Huron woman to stand trial on child abuse charges

Beth LeBlanc, Times Herald 5:34 p.m. EDT September 2, 2014

Charlisa Wood, 22, is led into the courtroom for a preliminary hearing Tuesday at the St. Clair County Courthouse in Port Huron. Wood is charged with first-degree child abuse, torture, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder after her boyfriend's 4-year-old son was found in critical condition at a Port Huron home.(Photo: JEFFREY SMITH/TIMES HERALD)

Tanisha Wood said she was in a panic as she drove to a 13th Street home July 25.

She had just received a call from her daughter, Charlisa Wood. The 4-year-old boy Charlisa Wood was watching — her boyfriend's son — was "breathing funny."

"She said, 'What do I do? What do I do?'" Tanisha Wood testified Tuesday during her daughter's preliminary examination in St. Clair County District Judge Michael Hulewicz's courtroom.

Twenty-two-year-old Charlisa Wood will stand trial on three charges related to the 4-year-old boy's near drowning and accompanying injuries. Hulewicz bound Charlisa Wood over to circuit court on charges of first degree child abuse, torture and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, following the court hearing.

"It's quite substantial," Hulewicz said, referring to evidence of the boy's injuries. "It's not only burns, it's also internal injuries."

Four people testified during Wood's preliminary examination, while Charlisa Wood, dressed in orange and wearing shackles, listened while she sat next to her lawyer, John Livesay.

Dr. Michael Paul, an emergency department doctor at McLaren Port Huron hospital, estimated the boy brought into his emergency room July 25 had burns on 10 to 19 percent of his body.

Paul said the boy also had an abrasion to his head, a possible puncture wound to his foot, and a lacerated liver. The boy had a seizure while in the doctor's presence.

"The initial report we got, to the best of my recollection, was that of a near drowning, or possible drowning," Paul said. He said the additional injuries became apparent during an examination.

Sarah Mullins, a Child Protective Services specialist with the state Department of Human Services, testified burns on the boy's forearms initially were slightly red.

"They got far more red within 24 hours," Mullins said. "Blisters started popping up on his arms ... There were some areas where the skin actually separated because they were so swollen."

Port Huron Police Detective Brian Kerrigan said Charlisa Wood told police, in an interview after the incident, the boy had started his own bath while she was watching him.

Wood told Kerrigan she checked on the boy intermittently and, at one point, found him lying in the bathtub underwater.

Kerrigan said Wood told him she pulled the boy out of the bathtub and drained the bathtub.

Tanisha Wood said when she arrived at the 13th Street home, the boy was lying on the ground in the dining room. She said her daughter had attempted CPR prior to her arrival.

"I told her to call 911," Tanisha Wood said.

Charlisa Wood's circuit court arraignment has not been scheduled. She is being held in the St. Clair County jail on a bond of $500,000.

Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.